Sprinting to Floor 3

Why are you still here?!

2011-01-12T13:59:00.002-06:00

You should be here!

Moving On (Moving Forward)

2011-01-01T00:00:00.004-06:00

Few things make my stomach turn like pulling up an oft-read blog and finding a moving announcement.
They’re MOVING? To a new WEB ADDRESS? WHY IS MY LIFE SO HARD.
I avoid paying attention to these things like my life depends on it.
Only… now I’m the one playing the card. As I recently mentioned, my writing babble is moving to a new internet home called As They Say in Paris, and I’m pretty excited about it.
For those of you frustrated with the sparse writing of the last 2 months, this is the truth: I’ve been writing entries and saving them for the new blog. What do you say to that? They are ready and waiting to be posted and read = Incentive!!!

I would like all of you to keep following me, so here is how to do so. It is, contrary to popular belief, not a painful process! I understand if you have to leave and come back another day to go through with all of it. Don’t worry, I’ll speak slowly. This is very easy. Deep breath. You can do it.
This is the new address:

http://www.astheysayinparis.blogspot.com/

If you read my blog in Mozilla Firefox, right click the above address to open in a new tab. Click the blank star next to the address and voila! It’s in Favorites! All done!
If you read my blog in Internet Explorer, right click the above address to open in a new tab. Hit File>Add to Favorites: voila! All done!
If you read my blog in Google Reader, highlight the above address, hit ctrl-c, go to the menu bar to your left where it says Add New, paste it in there, and voila! The easiest of them all!

It’s been a great 5½ years round here at ol’ Sprinting to Floor 3. Can’t wait to see what good stuff is waiting to happen at the new place.
See you there!

ETA: Why am I not surprised that I crashed and burned my own Grand Opening. I completely forgot to change the restrictions so that the page can actually be viewed. GO PERI! C'est réparé. Also, comments on this blog are now closed.

ain't it thrilling

2010-12-25T20:36:00.002-06:00

What an absolutely beautiful white Christmas. The snow has covered trees and streets and the ground with a thick, perfect layer of white. Everything shines white; the dark contrasts fascinatingly with the light; and it lifts my heart right up through the roof. I can't stop smiling at the snow.

The day has been spent with my mother, sister, brother, and dog. There's a fire going, the lights on the big green pine are glowing, the air smelled like cinnamon rolls for a while before changing to chili, the poinsettas couldn't be redder, and Charlie Brown music is playing in the background.

I've been curled up in the comfiest living room chair devouring The Hunger Games. We played Disney Scene-It and I won by a landslide. We just played Pirateopoly and I lost by a landslide. Maizy has joyously ripped all the cotton out of her stuffed reindeer. It's a relief to know all the holiday food will soon be gone.The living room is a comfortable wreck.

My heart is in such a good place. This year I've been able to swell up with Christmas--all the meanings, trifles, and joys. The delights of balsam-scented candles and too much peppermint and the same happy songs everyone knows and the blessings which are ours in Christ. Pure, overwhelming thankfulness for this God who loves me so much, who has spent December keeping me safe and far away from a downcast spirit. Christmastime is the celebration of the blood flowing through his veins, his feet on the earth, his human LIFE and everything that meant and everything it means.

All of it makes me really happy.

(I join Jorge in wishing everyone a very merry Christmas.)

God smiles upon those who have to work on Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T10:19:00.002-06:00

Specifically, Johna and I.

It began like this:

I opened my Google Reader.
I read Cheryl’s post mentioning Richard Armitage’s Christmas message to fans.
I went to the website and read the message. I chuckled at his Hobbit joke.

IT COULD HAVE ENDED THERE, DEAR READERS, BUT GOD WAS SMILING.

For no particular reason I scrolled down and read the news section, looking for anything about Spooks since the roomie and I have been bingeing on it all week.

And then this happened:

I saw these words, and they were all in a paragraph together:

audiobooks
Richard Armitage
single most popular reader
Georgette Heyer

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Are you saying that THORNTON is reading HEYER? I mean, I would listen to this man read recipes or mathematical equations, for heaven’s sake, but you’re. saying. that he’s reading one of my favorite authors—and—(having seen the book list) some of my favorite books of hers? OUT LOUD? AND I CAN LISTEN TO IT? IT’S NOT A TRICK? IT’S NOT A TRAP?

Yes.

Nicolas Soames: “Richard Armitage has been, without a doubt, the single most popular reader on Naxos AudioBooks this year. Listeners on both sides of the Atlantic, Australia and elsewhere too, have been homing in on his recordings of Georgette Heyer. We hope that more will come next year… but it is dependent upon his availability as he is about to disappear to New Zealand for months on end to film The Hobbit. Nevertheless, we at the Naxos AudioBooks office would like to thank the kind anonymous person who, every time we release a new Armitage/Heyer audiobook, sends us a rather fine box of Belgian chocolates as a gesture of gratitude. We appreciate it!” (here)

Richard Armitage

The Convenient Marriage

Sylvester

Venetia

Also, the bottom of each page has a link to an interview where Richard talks about why he enjoys recording audiobooks.

I think this is an appropriate subject to close with as I wind down this blog.
(To clarify—this isn’t my last post here. It couldn’t be, could it? Since I haven’t given you the link to the new one yet. I’m just saying it’s thematically appropriate that one of my last posts has to do with Richard Armitage, Georgette Heyer, a combination of my favorite things, my random discovery of it, and an arms-flailing reaction write-up.)

picking a blog name is hard

2010-12-16T16:24:00.001-06:00

unless you have a stated purpose for your site, which I don’t. I can’t just call the new blog “Blather” (though it would probably win for accuracy) and the lack of title has been the biggest roadblock in turning the blog page.
What I like about the name Sprinting to Floor 3 is that it describes energetic movement to a stated goal. This is how I want to live my life in all areas: physically, spiritually, creatively, etc. I’ve been mentally grumbling about losing the title with the change. Why can’t I come up with something I like as much as this? Something unique, cheerful, and meaningful to me.
What came of this were a few dark days where the title was going to be Sprinting to Floor 2. Get it? 2! Like a sequel! And it’s practically the same title!
Thankfully that was ditched quickly, and since I don’t want to rip off of a song or book or bible verse or movie quote, the last few days have been spent creating and discarding ideas. Here are the short-lived list-toppers:

An Iron Fist & a Yellow Peacoat
This was inspired by my brother’s quote of the same phrase. It was discarded for lack of meaning, Nazi imagery, and making me feel cold.

Lift
This was my favorite one. Unfortunately some bum email thing has already laid claim to the web address. It’s fine; I probably would have abandoned it anyway.

Bird Scattering
I have a bird thing going on lately and this seemed to put the “purposeful movement” title into play. Discarded because it sounds like I’m kicking birds, and because it makes me think of bird poop.

Sperry or Sperri or Speri
It’s only cute if it’s spelled the first way. The 2nd is so close but too far, and the last one just looks like a weird typo. And yet the last one is the only one that would (in my case) make sense. This is the ONE TIME IN MY LIFE I’ve wished my name was spelled the other way. I’m telling you, blogs show you sides of yourself you never expected to see.

Save the Receptionist
It’s catchy and short and not complicated. It’s also an Office quote and it makes me the passive party. And, I’m not a receptionist.

i yam what i yam
grow a pair, alex
why am i still awake
globetripping
i’m hungry
the underbrella
but i don’t want to be a pirate

How do people do this? Name blogs? Restaurants? Books? Movies? Businesses? Does the name fairy come down and wave her wand over your mind as you dream? WHAT IS THE TRICK?

The story has a happy ending. I have a new blog and it has a satisfactory name… to be unveiled on a forthcoming date.

scene:

2010-12-15T19:33:00.002-06:00

My brother is on a comedic rant.

Mom: No, tonight is the night for crushing your hopes and dreams.
me: GET IT RIGHT, WESLEY.

My sister is driving home from GA in the middle of the sleet/ice storm. My mom is on the phone with her. Wesley is standing at the kitchen table making a giant paper snowman.

Mom: You can do it! Yes you can! You can do it! Yes you can!
Wesley: Stop it with the oral motivation.

The project is finished.

Welsey: [singing] Who's that snowman on the wall? [falsetto] Who's that snowman on the wall? Ch ch ch BEST WISHES UPON YOUR MARRIAGE. Peri, look. Peri! Look!
me: Yes, I see it, the snowman is taller than you.
Wesley: NO. It's holding my hand. Bet you think you're too cool to take a picture of me.

The whole night has been like this.

the return of everyone's favorite elf

2010-12-09T14:37:00.002-06:00

Orlando Bloom likely to return as Legolas in 'The Hobbit'

Like most of the world, the first time I was made aware of the existence of Orlando Bloom was when he was adorned with a long blond wig, pointy wax ears, and blue contacts. I loved the life he gave to the character, which made it easy to love the actor--and I read countless interviews and articles that described him as such a positive, energetic, friendly person. This launched an adoration that continued for years. It petered off around the time that he played that wimp Paris in Troy, although I did have large posters of him hanging in my dorm room every year of college... but the affection will always be there and the fact that he's likely to reprise the role in an entirely different story makes me want to hug things.

This also satisfies my great love for interweaving storylines/character cameos, a thing that I love to put into my own writing because despite constantly complicating and annihilating my timelines and making me want to kill the muse of plot points, it makes everything more interesting and is also just FUN. Madeleine L'Engle did this (to a less complicated degree) in most of her books, criss-crossing her characters and their families; Connie Willis's time travellers have appeared in multiple related novels; C.S. Lewis, while he was obviously writing a series, managed to make each of his Narnia book so distinct from each other that when the Pevensies showed up in a book that wasn't theirs or we got brief appearances from other out-of-story characters, it was like a Christmas present wrapped up in birthdays. The point is, this is one of my favorite storytelling devices and Peter Jackson is winning it.

I also love that (if the Legolas reappearance does happen) they are using the nature of the characters to further the story.: as the article says, it's "very conceivable that the immortal elves can appear as themselves in this decades-earlier prequel." But that's a whole other point and my break is over, so digest the good news and pray that it's actually true, and now I'm off to buy more Velveeta and Rotel for the holiday party. LATER!

quandry

2010-12-08T16:52:00.001-06:00

Oh, everyone.

I don't know what to do.

Make a new blog?

Keep this one?

The end of the year is fast approaching and it was my goal to start a new one come January.

Now I'm reading over old posts and I CAAAAAAAN'T.

But I want a fresh start. You know... out with the college, in with the mid-twenties.

Excuse me while I wrestle a descision out of myself.

Coldplay's "Christmas Lights"

2010-12-06T13:26:00.005-06:00

Coldplay has a new Christmas song out. I love when they do this. Chris's cover of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" ranks in my top 50 songs of everything. However, they made this one all by themselves... and it's beautiful. One of the things I love about this band is that it's always showing new sides of itself: they aren't afraid to change their sound, to experiment--but the soul is the same.

The video is embedded below; first, I have a few recommendations:

1. Listen to the song before you watch the video. I love creating my own mental imagery for things like this. My vision of it plays out very much like it would in a film: walking down the street at night, Christmas lights everywhere.

2. Buy it from AMAZON. I cannot love Amazon enough and they consistently feed my love by doing things like selling their mp3s for $0.99 instead of following the obnoxious path of iTunes and their enraging $1.29-PER-SONG prices.

3. Watch this in HD full-screen when you do.

Reasons I Love This shortlist:

I love the song.
The one long shot is so artfully filmed (the band must have been booking to get to the right marks at the right times) that it initially had me wondering if it was pieced together.
I love the balloons because they're reminiscent of Tangled. Yeah, I went there. Incorporate this movie into every post I write lately: ACCOMPLISHED.
Fireworks are one one of my favorite things and there are A LOT of them in this video.
It's like visual food.

I wish that the makers of these videos would just let Chris Martin go. He is like a writhing mass of energy who can hardly contain the force inside him. I witnessed this first-hand at the concert last year and you can see it right here on the screen. Look at him. He cannot stand still. I wish they would loose the bit and let him sprint around down Christmas-lit streets with arms flailing and legs leaping and voice shouting. It gives me great comfort to know that eventually this wish will become a reality. This is how I know: 1) he will create a song that makes the energy explode right out of him (see first paragraph, above); 2) past videos; 3) basic necessity: sooner or later they're going to realize that sooner or later he's going to break the tether and start jumping around unrestrainedly.

OH MY GOSH, PERI

2010-12-06T09:31:00.000-06:00

YOU DO NOT NEED A TANGLED STICKER BOOK.

STOP IT.

thanksbirthmas

2010-11-26T11:05:00.002-06:00

Right now Cathy and I are decorating the office for Christmas. We just lugged eight boxes out of the tower storage and have decked the front hall with a beribboned and beornamented Chrismas tree, wreaths on the conference room windows, the ugliest cat nativity scene that's ever existed, and a bunch of stars and small ornaments that make a very pretty jumble of dangling things. The radio is playing Christmas music (this country station is the best--it's like someone over there finally said, "102.5 has played the Christmas Shoes song one too many times; we're going to do it right.") and we're singing along with Frank Sinatra while we detangle one fishline from another ('detangle' has led to multiple conversations about Tangled--and I'm not even the one bringing it up). It is also my birthday, so there are big colored balloons stuck to my desk and a bunch of photos of turkeys taped everywhere with captions like"Strut your stuff today" and Barth's face photoshopped onto a hunter holding a just-bagged fowl wishing me happy birthday. While we were unpacking the decorations Cathy found all of her mini ornaments with all of the Edward faces from last year still stuck on them, so the prank has come full circle as she's happily sticking every single one in a line across the side of my desk. This is all kind of awful and hilarious.

vingt-quatre ans

2010-11-26T09:14:00.003-06:00

I really lucked out to get such an aesthetically pleasing birth date.

PERFECT.

2010-11-25T22:38:00.000-06:00

new favorite movie

I'll give yall a review once the glow has worn off and I can discuss it coherently.

i eat my turkey with mayo, not gravy

2010-11-25T22:34:00.002-06:00

My family is playing Scrabble.

WESLEY: "Mix." Ten points.
MARVIN: Your I is upside-down.

I love Thanksgiving Game Night.
Hope it was a delightful day for ALL of you!

I realize that we all have days when we're unaware that the butt of our pants has a huge rip in it, but

2010-11-23T14:34:00.000-06:00

did it have to be the day when I was out and about running four errands INCLUDING TIFFANY & CO.?

I'm going to see Tangled tomorrow night.

2010-11-23T09:12:00.002-06:00

If it's anything like the Australia Fiasco of 2008, let all and sundry be assured that I will not only know the taste of Disney blood, I will also refuse to see any more Thanksgiving releases for the rest of my life. But hope springs eternal and a lot of it is based on Flynn's face in this frame:

Yes. I turn 24 on Friday. WHAT ABOUT IT. Let the birthday countdown begin.

this is fairly typical

2010-11-18T16:11:00.000-06:00

ME: [entering kitchen]

JOHNA: Peri, I was just going to come over there to find you! I just wanted to remind you that I won’t be here tomorrow, so you’re welcome to use my red bowl for your salad tomorrow! Or Monday. Okay, I have to go, they’re waiting for me. It’s been a breath of fresh air talking to you. [exits kitchen]

dear drivers who sit on my tail when i'm already going 10mph over the speed limit and really piss me off,

2010-11-18T08:31:00.000-06:00

Hey
Slow it down
Whaddaya want from me?
Whaddaya want from me?

that time we celebrated megan changing her incredibly long and difficult to spell or pronounce last name to something much simpler, and she was beautiful while doing it

2010-11-16T23:19:00.000-06:00

2010-11-16T22:43:00.000-06:00

My November Guest

Robert Frost

My Sorrow, when she’s here with me,

Thinks these dark days of autumn rain

Are beautiful as days can be;

She loves the bare, the withered tree;

She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.

She talks and I am fain to list:

She’s glad the birds are gone away,

She’s glad her simple worsted grey

Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,

The faded earth, the heavy sky,

The beauties she so truly sees,

She thinks I have no eye for these,

And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know

The love of bare November days

Before the coming of the snow,

But it were vain to tell her so,

And they are better for her praise.

I always forget about the sweetness of this time of year until the first dreary November day arrives.

2010-11-16T14:37:00.001-06:00

Listening to Karen Carpenter sing Christmas songs gets me all nostalgic.
Josh Groban gets me all teary.

NOT READY FOR THIS. Stupid radio. I'm only listening to the 24/7 xmas station because they won't stop playing Teenage Dream on our regular station.

today's rants

2010-11-15T15:22:00.002-06:00

Why doesn’t anyone in St. Louis know how to use their turn signal
Why can’t anyone seem to listen to their voicemail before calling me and stating their name and expecting me to read the minds of everyone in this office to know who called them and why
Why does Illinois exist
Die, Microsoft Office 2010
If they play Teenage Dream on the radio one more time I’m boycotting everything

The End of the World

2010-11-13T23:52:00.001-06:00

There is some inappropriate language but-- I'm laughing so hard I'm actually crying.

BUT I'M LE TIRED.

You smell like Axe

2010-11-10T19:56:00.009-06:00

My brother and I, having not waged war against each other within recent weeks, found it necessary to remedy the situation tonight.

Wesley is now thirteen and trying with everything he’s got to grow the quarter-inch that will make him as tall as me. We have a section of the wall in the kitchen dedicated to weekly measurements. I never had one of these as a child and now that I’m finished growing, Wesley measures me every Wednesday night before dinner. My marks vary by the space of a centimeter. His are a steady climb. His voice is cracking. He has acne. He’s in 7th grade. He just got a nice haircut and is losing baby fat to muscle.

But I am still his big sister. Meaning… 10 out of 10 times I am the victor of our battles.

Background:

Wrestling
Water
Playmobil I and II

It all began with Tangled. We were discussing when to go see it and kept getting off the subject.

ME: Okay, but back to the important topic at hand…
MOM : You.
ME: Good! Good, Mom!

My mom’s phone rang, which took her away from the conversation again. Wesley, who wants to see Tangled, told me, “I’m going to take away your dream of Tangled. You took away my dream of Prince of Persia. A few months ago, I wanted to see it but you said it didn’t look like a good movie. I was excited to share LeCray with you but you took away my dreams of that too—”
I began playing a tiny invisible violin and went over to melodramatically hug him and try to make him fall out of his chair. He was spreading vanilla icing on a pumpkin cookie. Keep your eye on the cookie: it will feature later.

As a matter of fact, it will feature right now.
I returned to my seat and said, “You can still like music and movies even if I’m not excited about them.”
He said, “You know what, Peri?” and reached across and smushed the cookie, icing-up, against my face.

Then he took to his heels, as well he may, since I bolted out of my chair and went after him, only he made it into the bathroom and locked the door before I could return the sugary favor.

Unless you’ve been to my mom's house it will be hard to follow what I’m about to describe, so I’ve made a handy diagram:

I positioned myself behind the wall that divides the bathroom/bedroom hallway from the living room. The cookie was in my hand like a soft baked-goods grenade. I waited for him to lose patience, which didn’t take long. The bathroom door opened. I watched his shadow move slowly along the wall. “Peri?” he said. I braced myself. Timing was everything. If he spooked before I was able to jump at him, I’d lose my chance.

Suddenly, something round, blue, soft, and full of water was flying at me. He landed three hits of the loofah right on my face before I could even react. This time, though, his flight took him into his bedroom, which doesn’t have a lock. AH HA, I thought, and smashed the cookie (icing up) into 1st) his hair and 2nd) his face. REVENGE: It is sweet, and pumpkin-flavored.

Out of nowhere came the sound of an aerosol can being sprayed. He had managed to get his hands on his can of Axe deodorant and trained it right on me. He cackled, I yelled, Maizy jumped around, I withdrew, Wesley realized that his cookie had not served him well.

I choked my way into the bathroom and cleaned myself off. My hair and face were wet. There was icing all over my cheek and forehead. “Truce!” I shouted at my brother, who I could hear commanding the dog to clean up the food in his bed.

I went back to the kitchen table where my mom was patiently waiting for the battle to come to its close.
I said: “He’s getting better at this.”
Mom said, “Yes, he’s getting faster and stronger.” I thought of the time I poured water all over him and said, “No… he just knows how far I’m willing to go.” She replied, “You were both asking for it. I can’t say I feel much sympathy for either of you,” and asked if I wanted any leftovers to take home with me.

My brother emerged from his room. He said, “There are COOKIE CRUMBS in my bed!” She shrugged her shoulders at him. “Mm.” Times like these, I truly love my mom.

We had to debate the skirmish standings, since the results weren’t as clear-cut as they generally are.

ME: We called a truce. Nobody lost, but nobody won.
WESLEY: Yeah, but you stink and I don’t.
ME: And you have cookie pieces in your bed, and I don’t. [catching sight of his hair and starting to laugh] Also, you might want to find a mirror that shows you what’s happened to the back of your head.
WESLEY: WHAT. [feels his hair] Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Gosh darn it, Peri.
ME: I think I came out on top of this after all.

He and Maizy went off to evaluate the extent of the damage. He came back with a comb full of icing and shoved it defiantly in front of my face. I began to comb the rest of it out. He knelt on the floor and I sat in my chair and neither of us could stop laughing.
Mom: [on the phone with a friend] “Oh, sheesh, they got icing all over each other’s faces.”

Wesley does not back down easily. Ten minutes later, he was still raging.
I said, “You know how I know I won? Because you’re madder about this than I am.”
Wesley said, “I’M HAPPY. I’m very happy because I was able for the first time to use my Axe as a weapon against a potential enemy, and I have 14 oz. of it waiting for next attack.”
My mother said, “CHILD, GET READY TO LEAVE OR I AM CALLING MRS. BANKS AND TELLING HER YOU DON’T WANT TO HANG OUT WITH IAN ANYMORE.”

I loaded the dishwasher. My mom put on her shoes; my dog took advantage of her sitting position and cuddled herself into the indefinable space between my mom’s bent torso and her legs. Wesley re-entered the kitchen and said, “I wrote a song about us and our fight. Wanna hear it?” He then performed a song that not only had an epic melody but aptly described, in slightly Beowulfian terms, the events of the evening, moving from the tyrannical sister to the heroic arrival of the Axe can out of the darkness. It ended with him getting the best of me and my pride.

I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard.
I love that kid.

why, yes, as a matter of fact...

2010-11-05T14:15:00.000-05:00

I did have to.

2010-11-03T14:33:00.001-05:00

I’m more excited about the release of Tangled (Nov 24) than I am about both Thanksgiving (Nov 25) and my birthday (Nov 26). Interesting.

I have plans to love the freakin' heck out of this movie. Disney, do not disappoint me.

Illinois is boring as ever, but I am safely returned home from Jo-ja.

2010-11-03T13:33:00.000-05:00

I wanted to have some photos from the wedding to post here but they aren't appearing on facebook as quickly as I counted on them to. Suffice to say,

megan was beautiful
the ceremony and reception were beautiful
everyone was happy

More details and stories when photos show themselves.

!!!

2010-10-27T10:01:00.001-05:00

Good morning everyone. The event of the day is that this afternoon I'm finally departing for Chattanooga to begin the wedding festivities of a certain Megarama (Megolith, if you will) and let me tell you, I'm excited. Please pray for traveling mercies as I didn't get as much sleep as planned last night and will be driving my pretty little cr-v all the way to GA. It will be carrying not only myself but a certain D&A Miller as well (yes. They're baaaaack!) and will be all by myself on the return trip this Sunday.

I can't believe this wedding is finally happening. Last week I finally bought a new camera and can't wait to sink my eyeteeth (there was a pun in there somewhere) into the fall foliage, not to mention all this crazy fun waiting to happen.

I'm dismayed because I realized I completely forgot to carve my JackShephard-o'-lantern.

nightmares, you may commence

2010-10-26T10:07:00.000-05:00

The head of a mosquito. Happy Halloween to you too, Telegraph.

things you realize at 4:30 on a Monday afternoon

2010-10-25T16:35:00.000-05:00

After working out the various destinations of my next 4 paychecks, I can no longer deny the fact that I am saving absolutely no money.

But time makes you bolder. Children get older. I'm getting older too. WHATEVER, BANK.

excuses, excuses

2010-10-21T11:12:00.000-05:00

What most of you don’t know is that I am writing lengthy things with every intention of posting them here.

Inevitable result:

I delete the whole thing and post something vapid instead
I delete the whole thing and post nothing at all
I save it for later and forget about it

But at least I'm here, right? Unless you would prefer that I go radio silent until I can focus again.

our mutual interests

2010-10-20T16:15:00.003-05:00

Johna: [shouting across office] Peri, take your dang phone off DND!
me: Ok, it's off!
Johna: [calling my phone] Does he claim his riches or not?

It delights me that I work with people to whom I can hand the dvd of Our Mutual Friend and they will watch it and love it. And then drill me about it at lunch. And then, when they fail to get answers, make plans to watch the end of it during tomorrow's lunch hour.

(Is that right? 'To whom'? You'd think I barely passed my gramm-ar 101 class. Oh, wait.)

from memory, booyah

2010-10-19T16:38:00.000-05:00

Goal for the day: get this stuck in everyone's head.
As you can see I have really high life aspirations.

"Gladys, we need more bars."

2010-10-19T16:05:00.000-05:00

email strikes again

2010-10-14T15:58:00.001-05:00

Ever cavalier, Johna assured Cathy that she would be able to turn off her auto-reply.

As it happens, she can't. The server mysteriously won't allow her to change any Outlook settings right now.

So this is what you get back if you email her:

WHY

2010-10-14T09:37:00.001-05:00

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Cast for the Covens and Nomads Announced
Source: Summit Entertainment
October 14, 2010

THE AMERICAN NOMADS

The American Nomads are comprised of:

- Lee Pace as Garrett ("Pushing Daisies," The Good Shepherd).

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
LEE, THESE ARE NOT GOOD CHOICES

ADRENALINE

2010-10-12T13:59:00.001-05:00

Apparently the LOST: The Final Episodes soundtrack is a limited edition of 5000.
AND ONE OF THEM IS MINE, SUCKAS.
I don't think I've ever bought something so fast in my life. I don't even know how much it cost.

Heart is still racing.
This is also exciting because I always miss the boat on things like this and for once, I'm part of the elite few!

currently playing a game called...

2010-10-11T11:26:00.001-05:00

"see how long i can go without cleaning off the huge smear that's dead center in the right lens of my glasses"

...and dominating it.

IT'S PRONOUNCED "SAID," COLBIE

2010-10-11T09:06:00.000-05:00

NOT "SAYED."

in which we debate the merits of a new blog

2010-10-07T17:13:00.003-05:00

ABSOLUTELY YES
1. fresh start
i’m not living on the 3rd floor of carter hall anymore. StF3 is a sweet record of my college years and i love going back and revisiting memories… but my life is moving forward and i’m feeling the need for a blog shift as well.
2. more interaction with readers
for five (FIVE?!) years i've been writing what's essentially an open journal—i talk and you listen. i have no regrets about keeping comments closed for most of this time, but now that they’re open i’m seeing the benefits of a 2-way conversational street, which would fit better in a place that opens with that option built in.
3. more posts
not that i’ve been posting anything of great worth lately anyway, but i’d like to relax my own mental rules of posting. less pressure to perform means i’ll have fewer qualms about cluttering up the internet with prattle, whether it be worth reading or not. i wouldn’t vanish for weeks the way i have been lately.

ABSOLUTELY NOT
1. an oldie and a goodie
this dear blog has been in my life longer than i’ve known many of you dear readers. it’s seen me through a lot of highs and lows, and is familiar and comfortable and homey and i really love it. i don’t want to outgrow it. i want to write in it until its spine falls apart and the cover disintegrates.
2. i don’t have a real reason for a new blog
...other than feeling restless with this one. i’m not moving to some new place in life or location; it’s not about a hobby or planning a wedding or family or something.
3. what would i name it?
no really, what would i name it?!?

bria doesn't appreciate my emails

2010-10-06T17:04:00.001-05:00

new dress

2010-10-06T13:55:00.004-05:00

Hint of floral in print is offset by black material and tons of bluebirds (sparrows? finches?) all over the place.

This is why H&M is a success and the ~~designers~~ contestants on Project Runway aren’t.

blood sugar is plummeting

2010-10-06T13:25:00.003-05:00

I told myself I don’t get to eat lunch until I’ve finished this project because doing it has already taken me 2 hours more than it should have.
So of course I’m BLOGGING.

This office is full of squabbles.

2010-10-06T13:16:00.000-05:00

All and sundry, please welcome Amanda into the ranks of the North & South inducted.

2010-10-05T16:51:00.000-05:00

I've decided that this is the true test of friendship. The test is that you have to watch it (preferably with me) and love it. From now on, I will only be friends with those who pass. Bonus points for those who kind of lunge around because they can't even handle how amazing everything in the film is.

Quality

2010-10-05T08:40:00.000-05:00

That's been my blog lately. A-yup.

While we're here, would anyone happen to know how long it takes to grow a caffeine addiction?

I am going to make a JACKSHEPHARD-o-lantern for Halloween.

2010-10-04T15:26:00.000-05:00

Har har har har har.

NO COPYING.

Dear Bankers Life & Casualty Co.,

2010-10-01T16:09:00.000-05:00

2010-09-30T16:10:00.002-05:00

I have been laughing at this all day.

Saturday: what I did

2010-09-27T11:35:00.002-05:00

Watched various portions of LOST episodes until 4 in the morning (Yes, Amanda) then went to Forest Park for the express purpose of fighting for a parking spot for an hour and a half, 'cause I was feeling bold.

CAN'T I JUST

2010-09-23T15:47:00.000-05:00

APPROVE ALL THE COVER ART AND BOOK-TO-MOVIE PRODUCTIONS FOR MY FAVORITE WORKS OF LITERATURE?!?!
AND WHEN THEY GET IT WRONG I'LL DESIGN AND DIRECT THEM MYSELF.
JUST LET ME DO IT.

does anyone even bother to read the books they're designing covers for
or take any in-depth look at the books they're making into films
man alive
try asking the author next time
or SOMEONE, ANYONE who has any sort of emotional investment in them
today i hate everyone in hollywood
JUST LET ME DO IT.

Happy Crash Day, LOST!

2010-09-22T20:50:00.000-05:00

On this day six years ago, Oceanic flight 815 crashed on an island in the Pacific. I was not there. I did not arrive until a few years later. But it's a good day in the Lost universe. Happy reminiscing, everybody!

click image for the source.

Tiffany & Co. bag spam

2010-09-20T15:24:00.002-05:00

The new Tiffany leather line is out and it is wonderful.

In honor of the occassion, behold:

a long list of interesting Tiffany items for your eyes to feast upon

Avenue shopper tote

Shopper tote in soft glazed crocodile with 24k gold-plated solid brass hardware. Leather lining. Detachable zipper pouch and a key ring. Button detail with Tiffany Blue enamel accent. Double handle, 6.5” drop. 12.25”W x 5.5”D x 12.5”H. Made in South Africa. Color: Espresso.

$8,500

I really, really love this bag. I really, really, really would not mind owning it. However, that would involve starvation, as I would be unable to buy food, and then I would end up eating my leather bag whilst in the throes of death. Sorry, Peri, no tote for you.

Bracelet bag

Bracelet bag in satin with palladium-plated solid brass hardware. Silver leather lining with an interior pocket. Kiss-lock closure. Ball chain handle, 3” drop. 8.25”W x 4.75”D x 4.75”H. Made in Italy. Color: Tiffany Blue.

$795

How precious is this? Answer: most precious.

Hadley shoulder bag (black)

Shoulder bag in smooth calf, patent leather and suede with palladium-plated solid brass hardware. Tiffany Blue leather lining with two small interior pockets and interior zipper compartment. Fold-over flap with flip-lock closure. Single strap with chain, 8” drop. 11.75”W x 7.75”H. Made in Italy.

$895

So chic. So New York. I generally compare these things based on whether my favorite Hepburn would have worn/carried/used it, and this she totally would have.

Continental wallet

Wallet in glazed crocodile with palladium-plated solid brass hardware. Leather lining with six card slots, one bill compartment, three interior slip pockets, an interior zipper compartment and an exterior coin compartment. Turn-lock tab closure with Tiffany Blue enamel accents. 7.5”W x 4.25”H x 1”D. Made in South Africa.

$1,395

Does anyone see the Tiffany Blue enamel accents? I zoomed waaaaay in and I’m pretty sure that’s all silver.

Original reaction from last week: WOW! RED! TEXTURE! I LIKE IT! Feelings inspired today: Meh.

Flat pouch

Flat pouch in Tiffany Blue leather with zipper closure. Size small: 5.75 x 3.75”.

$95

Just cute! Isn’t it just so cute?! And affordable!
The conundrum being, what would I possibly be able to do with this tiny pocket? Aside from the obvious, that being, of course, carrying it around and flashing it at everyone I see.

Harper shoulder bag

Double gusset shoulder bag in hair calf with palladium-plated solid brass hardware. Tiffany Blue leather lining with an interior zipper compartment. Fold-over flap with flip-lock closure. Chain handle, 9” drop. 11.25”W x 2.75”D x 6.75”H. Made in Italy. Color: Giraffe.

$1,395

Now, I am not a animal print girl. Leopard, tiger, zebra, snakeskin... glauhgh.

But big thick giraffe spots? That look sort of look like distorted polkadots? I would totally carry giraffe.

Galaxy clutch

Soft-flap clutch in satin with palladium-plated solid brass hardware and multicolored stones. Tiffany Blue satin lining with one interior pocket and a zipper compartment. Detachable chain handle, 24” drop. 11.75”W x 1.5”D x 4.74”H. Made in Italy. Color: Garnet.

$1,295

FAVORITE FAVORITE FAVROITE FARVRITOE FAVSFGJERLKGEJYE

Also

I found my very first Tiffany typo on this item page.

I wish they would hire me to write and edit for them.

Hadley shoulder bag (python)

Shoulder bag in python with palladium-plated solid brass hardware. Tiffany Blue leather lining with two small interior pockets and interior zipper compartment. Fold-over flap with flip-lock closure. Single strap with chain, 8” drop. 11.75”W x 7.75”H. Made in Italy. Color: Tiffany Blue.

$1,495

This is an Order Through Customer Service bag. "Ooooooh," say the masses. (But why? says yours truly, looking at the $8,500 pricetag on the Avenue tote)

I wouldn't carry it, but I like it because it's a new and different Tiffany Blue: PYTHON PRINT!

Jewelry roll

Jewelry toll in Tiffany Blue leather. Size medium. 8.5 x 4.5 x 1”. Made in Italy.

$250

Look how clever they are! A jewelry roll…. AND THEY SELL JEWELRY. I totally craft makeshift jewelry rolls every time I travel and mine suck so this defintely has my attention. But riddle me this, Tiffany—why does the necklace I want to purchase from you cost less than the carrier for it?

Tiffany Charles briefcase

Briefcase in smooth calf with palladium-plated solid brass hardware. Leather lining with two interior zipper compartments, five card slots, a slip pocket and two pen holders. Slide combination lock closure. 16”W x 10.75”H x 2.25”D. Made in Italy. Color: Espresso.

$1,395

This is for all you men who like to pretend that someday you'll be as successful as Charles Tiffany.

Laurelton top handle bag

Top handle framed bag in ring lizard with palladium-plated solid brass hardware. Tiffany Blue leather lining with two interior pockets, an interior zipper compartment and a key ring. Exterior flap pocket. Tiffany bar closure. Single shoulder stray, 6.5” drop. 12.5”W x 6.25”D x 7.75”H. Made in South Africa.

$4,800

It’s from South Africa because that’s where all the quality lizards grow.

It was prettier to me when I thought they were sequins.

Savoy clutch

Fold-over framed clutch in satin with palladium-plated solid brass hardware. Silver leather lining with an interior pocket. Austrian crystal kiss-lock closure. 11”W x 6”H. Made in Italy. Color: Tiffany Blue.

$995

FAVORITE! 2nd place.

Morgan jewel clutch

Clutch in satin with palladium-plated solid brass hardware. Silver leather lining with an interior pocket. Jeweled T closure with Austrian crystals. 9.5”W x 3.5”H. Made in Italy. Color: Tiffany Blue.

$995

This makes me think of a bathroom.

Tiffany Reversible Tote

Reversible tote in suede and metallic leather with palladium-plated solid brass hardware. Detachable zipper pouch included. Leather tab closure. Double strap, 10” drop. Made in Italy.

Size large (14.5”W x 5.5”D x 13”H): $595

Size small: $395

If I weren’t so Tiffany-Blued out by now, I would say I really love this. As it happens, I really loved it.

oh Scheduling department, I cherish you

2010-09-17T15:03:00.000-05:00

HOPE: It’s times like this you know what you need to do, right?
JOHNA: DRINK!
HOPE: No.
JOHNA: —Put on lip gloss?!
HOPE: Who the hell wants dry lips in a catastrophe?

I can't believe that none of you commented on my bow-failure post to agree with me about how right I always am.

2010-09-16T08:31:00.000-05:00

Jerks.

while we're on the subject

2010-09-13T17:14:00.002-05:00

DEAR JACK'S HAIR,

I WOULD MARRY YOU.

Sayonara, Hair!; or, Megan is Going to Kill Me but She'll Live

2010-09-13T15:20:00.001-05:00

Dear Sandra Bullock's hair,
I wanted you. I really did. I came close to getting you but not close enough. You are long and sleek and all the same length. Mine is wavy-curly and many different lengths. It's also dry. I woke up this morning and felt like my entire body had turned into a desert overnight. Skin, lips, hair, everything. And my hair is annoying on my neck and looks really ugly today and keeps getting caught between my back and the chair. So I give up. I'm going short, I'm going bangs, and I'm doing it soon. I'll probably end up looking like my mom. But I will never look like you, Sandra Bullock's hair, and I'm not going to cry myself to sleep over you anymore. We dreamt big dreams but now it's over. I'm giving my heart to some other celebrity's hair, potentially Carey Mulligan's.
Looooooove,
Peri

Now accepting

2010-09-10T11:15:00.000-05:00

book recommendations.

everything unravels

2010-09-08T14:47:00.002-05:00

In my life, I do a lot of things right. God has blessed me with a multitude of talents. My ancestry encourages me to embrace and proclaim these talents, always striving to exceed and accomplish. Modesty is not a word that exists in my Dutch vocabulary. Confident of flawlessness, I strike out into the world each new day without fear. The end of the day is a different conversation—but I start my day in a state of near-perfection. It’s true!

This is why, for the last few weeks, I’ve been ignoring a deep, dark, tiny seed of doubt about something that traces its origins to my very childhood. It is one of those things that one does not admit even to oneself. It’s incomprehensible.

Yet it’s becoming horribly clear. I can’t ignore it. It must be faced.

I can’t tie bows correctly.

The rabbit-runs-around-the-hole thing? I never learned that. Whatever I learned, it’s not right. I struggle with bows. I do them backwards. It’s been right there in front of me for years and I’m only just now acknowledging it.

I’m taking it in slowly. Breathe. Accept. Breath. Accept a little more.

The natural questions emerge:
Who is to blame? My parents, for being inadequate bow-tying teachers? My left-handedness, which I am far from being ashamed of but admittedly causes me problems with pattern perception (particularly when it comes to dancing)? My natural problem-solving proclivity which clearly came in and compensated for my inaccurate tying methods by making me think I was doing it right when all along I was merely scraping by? How do I handle this?! Do I relearn the bow-making process? Do I continue as I have been doing? Is this avenue even possible, knowing what I know now? How many times have I tied an incorrect bow? How many shoe bows and clothes bows and gift bows and hair ribbon bows have I miscreated? Has everyone else in the world been doing this correctly all this time? Why should I be the one to change my methods? Who invented the bow anyway? I suspect the French. Wikipedia hints that it was the Greeks. Why did Wikipedia change its layout? Did it have to move the search box? Doesn’t it want me to search with ease? What are the five stages of grief? I suspect I’m going through them.

Denial

It wasn’t my fault. I wasn't the one teaching myself to tie bows. My bows are fine.

Anger

Why did this have to happen to me? Why now? This sucks! I'm mad!

Bargaining

Just let me do it right next time. Please, just let me do it right from now on. Haven’t I suffered enough?

Depression

I’m not perfect after all. Why bother with tying bows anyway? I’ll never tie another bow again.

Acceptance

I am going to be a pro at tying bows ~~from now on~~. I'm already a pro.

Look! A perfect recovery!

for the record

2010-09-07T14:42:00.001-05:00

If I ever own a boat, it will be named Not Penny's Boat.

tonight calls for liquor

2010-09-02T15:35:00.000-05:00

Sunday:

Emmys. LOST GOT ROBBED. WHO NEEDS THEM ANYWAY. LOSE TOGETHER, WIN ALONE!

Amanda the Awesome got me a bunch of cute bath towels from a place called PERI!

The wee brother turned 13

I made a delicious and perfect Jewish Apple Cake for Amy/Lauren’s birthdays

The rest of the week:

Smashing my head against the wall

I just watched the entire first season in 2 days.

2010-08-31T16:29:00.000-05:00

2010: the year Peri discovered TV shows.

globetrotters

2010-08-26T10:45:00.000-05:00

MOM: Peri, what if someone were to surprise you with a weekend trip with easy travel time anywhere within six hours from here, where would you want to go?
ME: Initially I’d say Australia.
MOM: Try again.
ME: Ummmmm. How about Chicago?
MOM: Further than that. Six hours flying.
ME: Well, there are some parts of Canada I’d like to see. Alaska.*
MOM: Mmmnnnrrr… what about Disneyland? Or a cruise?
ME: I don’t want to go on a cruise, Katie wants the cruise. Ireland!
MOM: Too far. How about somewhere in Florida? Tampa? Or Texas?
ME: You know what all of those places have in common?
MOM: What?
ME: None of them are above the Mason-Dixon line.
MOM: I refuse to go anywhere cold. Alaska, you’re going to have to see that on your own.
ME: You can’t tell me to pick ANY place and give me parameters after the fact! Okay, you go get a map and draw a circle of the six-hour radius around St. Louis, and then I’ll pick.
MOM: I don’t think you’re being very thankful for this surprise trip.

*I watched The Proposal again the other night

Cathy and I think we're really funny.

2010-08-18T17:18:00.000-05:00

Gloria does not agree.

tis my favorite season

2010-08-13T15:17:00.001-05:00

favoritest of all the favorites:

watermelon season
peach season

second place:

cherry season
clementine season

runners-up:

strawberry season
blueberry season

The year progresses not by the weather but by the food.

google maps finds me

2010-08-12T16:52:00.001-05:00

Rue Gabriel Péri, 94480 Ablon-sur-Seine, Val-de-Marne, IDF, France

I would only consider this a sign if it were in Australia. Paris, ennnnhhhh...

a lesson in inner beauty

2010-08-11T09:23:00.001-05:00

On the hottest day of summer I went during my lunch hour to the Kirkwood farmers' market to buy bananas. It being 100 degrees F outside, they were unpleasantly soft, so when I got back to work I put them in the fridge to cool down for a few hours. Thicken them up, if you will.

At 10 pm I sat up and remembered them. I groaned at the thought of having thrown away $3.50 on a bunch of bananas that were surely brown by now, and only found comfort in the memory of purchasing delicious peaches at the market as well.

The next morning I flung the refrigerator door open to discover bananas that were slightly brown but not horrifically. I was relieved—but this was only the calm before the storm. It didn't take two hours for the skins to turn a deep shade of chocolate. I debated throwing them out. I remembered my hard-earned $3.50. I gave in to the preservation instincts that seem to rather frequently demand that I hold on to spoiling food, never eating it but not ruling out the option until the moment when denial is no longer possible.

The next day the bananas were browner, if possible. I grimaced, peeled one to make sure it was worthy of disposal, and—it was still good. From top to bottom, it was a clean, healthy banana. No brown. No bruises, even.

I'm very quick to judge by appearances. I am a book-by-its-cover girl. I make assessments quickly based on what I define as a credit or a flaw. I rarely search for the heart. With time, my initial evaluations modify themselves; but when it comes to that first-sight rapid-fire response, I accept or reject based on one of my own biggest flaws: sight.

Sometimes I wish I could observe God's method-choosing process as he decides what to use to refine and teach me. I've been given a lot of painful life lessons. In this area of my life he's been comparatively gentle. He uses things like LOST or King David's life to teach me how to look past the surface to the person. It makes me wonder what it is about my heart that he knows will respond better to a lesson taught this way. Samuel. Charlie Pace. Bananas.

I've been eating one a morning and I have just one left. It's the ugliest of them all. The whole thing is brown. It's kind of shriveled at the top around the stem and the other end looks kind of black. My coworkers are horrified. But tomorrow I will eat it because I know for a fact that inside, it is perfect.

Coldplay

2010-08-10T13:11:00.001-05:00

Everything about them is just so GOOD.

occassion of the day

2010-08-06T23:12:00.002-05:00

I quit facebook!

Temporarily.

synonyms for Maizy

2010-08-06T21:14:00.002-05:00

galloping
bounding
jumping
frolicking
bouncing
prancing
leaping
pirouetting
snuggling

I have a ballerina for a dog

I have the best dog in the world.

2010-08-05T23:31:00.001-05:00

When I counted up my demons
Saw there was one for every day
With the good ones on my shoulders
I drove the other ones away

Sing out, oh
Yeah, everything's not lost

I love Chris Martin: for wanting to be better than he is, for being hopeful, for taking a desire past wishful thinking, for not being resigned to anything, for following through, for his optimism, for his honesty.

dog days

2010-08-04T21:58:00.001-05:00

This week my entire family, immediate and extended, is on vacation at the beach. I couldn’t go because I have bills to pay and would like to continue doing things like eating. Every day has been 100 degrees and humid.

Thanks for rubbing it in, Tiffany.

How I’ve spent the week:

… FIXED MY INTERNET!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

… doing battle with google reader, which likes to wait and update with 500 posts as soon as I clear them all out

… smashing my head against the wall in frustration at the speed of my computer

… watching Planet Earth with Maizy, who leapt to her feet and began barking at the russian leopard, stood wagging her tail as she watched wild dogs take down a caribou, and sat transfixed by the penguins, polar bears, and diving wood ducklings. (Duck-a-lings, as Bo used to call them.)

… making Prison Break collag—oh, I already mentioned this bout of lazy nerdiness?

… wishing I was watching Prison Break instead of Planet Earth

… running late. Again!

… developing a wonderfully easy way of exercising my hyperactive shepherd-labrador. I ride the bike. She runs next to it. We cover twice the distance in half the time. IT’S MAGICAL. You would still not believe how much my legs ache. Whatever the muscle is on the top of my thighs does not like this workout.

… buying my dress for Megarama’s wedding which arrived today and is two sizes too large, if not three.

… listening to this song many times. Ummmm… yes. Wow. The things I admit on this blog when I feel guilty for taking long posting hiatuses. Except that I'm not really that embarrassed to admit this because not only do I love The Count of Monte Cristo (let me stress this. LOVE) but if they do succeed in making it into a musical that would tour, I would see it in a heartbeat. The material is so good that it would really be impossible to screw up [famous last words; everyone rap wood] and while I haven't listened to the rest of the album, this song is so gorgeous that if the rest of them are at that same level, I would say we have a winner.

… listening to this song as well. I have the summer song playlist to trump all summer song playlists.
[I prefer Cosmic Love but that's good for summer night driving, and this one is good for sunshine day driving]

… leaving glasses of water all over the house while housesitting at my mom’s since she is not here to yell at me about them. Seriously—they’re everywhere. I happen to know that there are currently 4 in the basement and there are 2 in this room. This is the sort of vengeance I wreak when given the opportunity to carry out child-vs-parent retribution: I leave glasses of water wherever I want to. And I will clean them up before she gets home.

… I wrote. And created, and collected, and lived in these stories. This is where I have disappeared to when you haven’t heard from me for a while. (Aside from the obvious/already stated job, no internet.)

This and this and this is how everyone else is spending their week and I am, for the first summer in my entire life, not.

I wish I loved with the enthusiasm my dog does.

2010-08-02T18:58:00.000-05:00

She holds nothing back.

yep.

2010-07-31T00:37:00.002-05:00

FOR THE LAST TWO WEEKS I’VE:
been packing all my earthly possessions
moved half of them back home
moved half of them to amanda’s
--where i live now
including that red couch up a flight of stairs!!!
on the hottest, most humid day of summer!!!
unpacked [half] of what i brought to amanda’s
went to the botanical gardens with arrika and the fam
wished the little sis a happy entry into the world of one’s twenties
worked, worked, worked to bring home the bacon
ran a lot of errands and i do mean LOTS
spent more money than i suspect is wise
stressed out
took a load of stuff back to my mom’s to spend this coming week with my dog while everyone else in my family plays in the sun and surf of florida.

So the blog has been the very last priority on my list. Not to mention, I have the barest smidgen of internet access to use for bloggy things. Ironically, stat/visitor numbers have gone UP during the silence of the last few weeks.

I’m tired.

This is what I did tonight:

Laid on the couch and watched Fringe while making Prison Break collages.

YES. IT HAPPENED. IT IS HAPPENING.

DEFINITELY A TUESDAY

2010-07-20T15:44:00.001-05:00

"This is what's going to happen to you," she told the fax machine. "I'm going to throw you out the window, and then I'm going to take all the shattered pieces and light them on fire."

"Then it's your turn," she told the copier that was only printing blank pages.

there's a bright golden haze on the meadaaaaaaaah

2010-07-19T16:45:00.001-05:00

I was in a really chipper mood this morning, so I listened to Oh What a Beautiful Mornin' (Hugh Jackman London stage version) on my way to work.

It has been stuck in my head. ALL. DAY.

Special thanks to Hannah for giving me the dvd. I love you, Hannah.

Special thanks to Arrika for watching it with me. I love you, Arrika.

Special thanks to Hugh Jackman for making all this possible. I love you, Hugh.

everywhere i go, the farters find me.

2010-07-16T16:51:00.001-05:00

Friday. 4:30 pm.

Bria: I have to fart.
me: Are you really going to stand right there to do it?! Go over there, go into Art's cubicle!
Bria: (reassuringly) But it's okay, it's going this way. It's going back to Terri's office.
me: There is no breeze in here! There is no draft! HAHAHA! I want to go home!!!

tresemmé for curly-haired girls

2010-07-16T16:37:00.002-05:00

One of the consistencies of my life is hair issues.

One of the consistencies of me is purchasing new hair products.

I do not call myself all-knowing or my knowledge exhaustive (not RIGHT NOW at least) but I will say that I have tried and tested enough hair goop to fill a bathtub (or whatever amount my budget and my quota of patience make feasible) and this is what I have found works for my hair. So it just might be the case that it will work for others.

This is a time/money/effort-conserving post for those of you who have hair like mine:
-fine strands, but thick collectively
-gets oily quickly (must wash daily)...
-...yet dries out easily
-loads of body
-curly when encouraged
-long
-partially damaged by color-treatment

I don't like to spend any more time on my hair than I have to. My minimum-effort regimen is
shower at night
towel dry and brush out
air dry while sleeping
straighten bangs in a.m.
and that's it. If I feel like caring, I will blow dry and straighten it at night (20-25 minutes) and fix any wavy spots in the morning (5 mins). And not to toot my own horn, but this minimum-effort avenue gets me compliments on my hair on a regular basis. So here are my tricks of the trade:

SHAMPOO
What I like: squeaky-clean hair
What I don't like: residue of any kind; itchy scalp

What I use: Tresemmé Deep Cleansing, Pantene Pro-V Classic Clean, Infusium 23 Repairologie
Not good: Dove items, Garnier Fructis items, some Aveda, any 2-in-1 shampoo-conditioner combo

Tresemmé is my shampoo of choice because it brings the triple entente: 1) cleans everything off my hair 2) without drying it out or leaving a residue, and 3) smells nice. It's in Tresemmé's moisturizing family but it's not a cream shampoo. My hair is so long that I have to wash it twice. I like that this brings it to the level of clean I prefer without making me feel guilty for washing it twice daily.

Pantene does the same to a lesser degree; Infusium I would use all the time except it is not a lot of bottle for mucho moolah. If I see signs of dandruff or my scalp feels dry, I use the Equate version of Head and Shoulders, which works just as well and is less pricy… once every 2 weeks usually does the trick.

… and I know, I know, all this shampooing strips vitamins from my hair. I hate when my roots need washing and the ends don't. My solutions to this problem are:

wash anyway and move on with my life
don't wash on the weekend
lots of conditioner
dry shampoo

DRY SHAMPOO
This is new from Tresemmé; I'm sure other brands carry their own versions but I've just discovered it. I haven't been brave enough to use it two washless mornings running, but for one I approve.

The only bottles on the shelf were for Straight - Normal/Oily. I don't know how they could adapt this for curly hair, but my bottle does fine for me. How it works: I shake the bottle/can vigorously (it's aerosol). I hold it a foot away from my head and do my best to avoid my eyes and mouth while I spray my roots. What comes out is a nearly invisible powder that will show slightly yellow on my hair. I shake the bottle again. I spray again. I continue until all the problem spots are covered. I wait 2 minutes. If my hair is straight, I brush the powder out. If it's curly, I kind of fluff/rattle it out.

The result is not as shiny as it would be after a normal wash but it (magically!) does move as loosely as it would if it were legitimately clean. There is a slight film but nothing that bothers me (and residue bothers me). It eliminates odor and the spray is your typical shampoo scent. So it is not a soap-sud result, but it's convenient and saves me from having to redo my hair all the time (you know… because I'm always styling it). I do really like to straighten my hair and I'm more happy to spend the time on it knowing the labor will last me 2+ days instead of just one.

I plan to take this on road trips and to smelly restaurants. Too bad it wasn't around when I was in college and hardly had time to eat during exam weeks, let alone wash my hair. I highly recommend this to Dani (if she's actually bothered to read this far) and she knows why.

CONDITIONER
What I like: smooth, strong, and shiny
What I don't like: residue; dried-out hair
What I use: Tresemme Flawless Curl Moisturizing, Pantene Pro-V Ice Shine, Infusium 23 Frizzologie, John Frieda Brilliant Brunette Moisturizing for Dark Hair

I don't go a night without conditioning my hair. I used to, and those were dark days of split ends and frizz. The stylist at a salon gave me a haranguing about daily conditioning and I never looked back. I have yet to find an all-encompassing product, but these get the job done. Tresemmé keeps my hair hydrated and supposedly helps the curl, Pantene makes it shine, Frizzologie moisturizes and makes it smell like heaven (seriously—I spend all day smelling my own hair), ditto for John Freida.

I often mix two together before applying. I wring out my hair and apply a thorough coat to the length but hardly anything to the roots. Then I let it sit for a good five minutes. Finally rinse, but not too much, or all the stuff that's moisturizing and shining and protecting is going to wash right off and I'm back to dried out hair.

They moisturize without leaving a residue (take notes, DOVE) and they have kept my dyed hair from drying out and breaking and turning orange when all the color has faded out. I get what I want: strong hair that's pretty to look at and nice to touch and doesn't frizz more than can be expected in St. Louis humidity. When my hair is straight it falls nicely, too. It does that Pantene commercial slide off my shoulder.

CURLS
What I like: curls I don't have to work to get or keep
What I don't like: feel of product; appearance of product

My curls are loops and waves. They are not spring-sproingy curls; they are the kinds that, as I have said, need assistance.

Step 1 is a good haircut. I like having long hair but the only way to keep scraggly ends away and healthy curls present is to layer it. So I have three layers, 2 and 4 inches shorter than the longest. One straight line at the bottom doesn't work. I've tried to make it work. It doesn't.

Step 2 is good product. There is no magical hair product that you can slap in your straight hair and boing, suddenly it's curly. Here's where genetics show their advantage. Apparently one's hair changes in color or texture multiple times over the course of a life, and mine has returned to its help-me-along curls state. If your hair has no natural curl you're out of luck. The stuff I use can't help you.

What I use is Tresemmé's (TRESEMMÉ?!!? Who saw that coming?!?) Flawless Curls Lotion Crème. I love it. LOVE it. I comb it through my damp hair, scrunch it up, and go to bed with it loose. When I wake up I have a small riot of curls that need no attention aside from the calming power of a flat iron for my bangs.

The curls hold pretty much all day. What a wonderful thing!!! Inexpensive and easy. When I want to keep them bouncier I put forth a little more effort, but giving the minimum still gets me good results. Tresemmé for the win. They also have tips!

Holding fake curls is another matter. I've used hair spray. I don't like it. It makes me reach up and compulsively crack my crunchy curls and break all the dried spray out of my hair. Same goes for gel. This isn't really an issue, since as I've said, I'm lazy, and I rarely use a curling iron anymore and I have yet to figure out how to correctly use curlers. BUT! There is a BUT! But for those of you who do, you're still in luck! I have advice for you.

The only good thing Garnier Fructis ever made was a pomade which I can't remember the exact name of but it's sticky and waxy and holds my hair in shape effortlessly. I love that little pot of gook. Get the extra stong hold, dab a light amount across the width of your closed fingers, and scrunch lightly. Reapply until curls are holding. It's not heavy, it's not crunchy, and while it takes a few washings to fully get out, it's my favorite option. It also works well to smooth down flyaways and keep them down.

Viola! Healthy, pretty hair! May you all reach hair model status whether you follow my lead or not, and may this at least save some of you time and error and money. My wish for the world.

indulgent wentworth miller post

2010-07-15T13:08:00.002-05:00

"I’m kind of a dork. I don’t have much game. I’m not particularly comfortable in bars or clubs. I much prefer being home playing Scrabble, having dinner with a couple friends, going to see a movie, or losing a whole weekend to Season 14 of Law & Order or The Simpsons."
--Wentworth Miller

SCRABBLE! Can I just marry him right now? We'll sit on the couch throwing twizzlers at each other while watching LOST straight through for the fifth time, and raise our blue-eyed babies on L'Engle and Barrie.

John Piper - "Go, Your Son Will Live"

2010-07-14T16:09:00.002-05:00

I don’t know what kind of sentimental notion you have of Jesus Christ, but just read your Bibles and it’ll go away.

He is so outside of everybody’s box! Once you think you’ve got him emotionally figured out, he slaps you up the side of the head! And then when you think he’s that kind of a guy, he’s holding you in your worst moment! When everybody’s abandoned you. You cannot put this man in a box. I just want to disabuse you every week I can of thinking you’ve got him figured out.

Power. This is amazing power. You should be amazed at your Lord Jesus. Three ways it’s shown; number one. A mere word. Just a word. The boy’s sick. There’s a fever, it says, there’s a fever, fifteen miles away. And Jesus thinks a thought, and speaks a few words, and fifteen miles away, chemical changes happen in the boy’s body, and he is well. That’s. Our. King.

obvious changes

2010-07-13T20:57:00.000-05:00

There are new colors and there is a new banner!

I still love my LOST banner so I am posting it here to live for the duration of my little blog's life.
It's my favoritest of all the favorites.

Also, I am quietly opening/allowing comments. There's a first time for everything.

"Breakfast is the Best Meal of the Day"

2010-07-13T09:23:00.006-05:00

--Sesame Street

The majority of my high school and college friends did not eat breakfast. “I don’t have time,” they would say, or, “I forget to eat it.” I could not fathom this. Breakfast has always been a priority for me. Regardless of when I wake up, my day does not begin until I’ve chewed and swallowed something resembling breakfast food.

But lately I’ve been lucky if I remember to grab a banana as I’m flying out the door. Like today. So google happened:

But lo! what light from yonder kitchen door breaks? It is the sour cream blueberry loaf my boss brought in from the Daily Bread. Okay, you all enjoy the photos, I’m going to go enjoy a delicious slice of bread from my favorite local bakery.

it's a sign.

2010-07-09T12:46:00.001-05:00

consistency: i do not want it

2010-07-06T16:40:00.001-05:00

tv show, wonderful
so much love for the main character
he dies at the end

EVERY TIME. I AM 100% THROUGH WITH THIS.

here's the thing with online purchases

2010-06-22T13:45:00.002-05:00

You point and click and it's all so fast and all of a sudden you own another season of Prison Break.

2010-06-21T16:39:00.002-05:00

I would say that I can't wait for today to be over, but that would mean that it's tomorrow.

2010-06-16T11:03:00.003-05:00

I was talking to my friend about my other friend, his wife.
We had not even said her name. Where's your wife? or something like that.
He was telling me about something she was doing or had done.
The phrase was something simple, like "she made dinner" or "she went to get groceries."

Known
Possessed
Cherished

I wonder what it would be like to be so loved
that it makes someone else think about the way your husband says "she".

ding ding ding!

2010-06-15T15:00:00.002-05:00

We have a winner!!!

Let's watch an instant replay:

The applicant out here is taking her assessment
Her cell phone rings loudly enough to scare me
She scrambles for the phone and turns off the ringer
She holds her phone open. "Don't check it," I think at her. "DON'T, DON'T."
She isn't checking it! She's turning it off! A pleasant little "off" sound floats across the space between us. Well played, applicant!
I would like to cheer loudly. I restrain myself. Instead, I smile
and email Gloria.

May this moment give hope to Human Resource departments everywhere.

lifesaving

2010-06-11T15:10:00.001-05:00

Dear Cinderella, I have my doubts

2010-06-08T18:26:00.000-05:00

Listen, girl. I’m not saying I don’t believe you. I’m just saying you might want to rethink your tale-telling approach.

Your story has as many holes as the ones my stilettos make in the mud I invariably have to tromp through whenever I happen to be wearing stilettos. In other words: how it’s managed to stay under the radar this long is beyond me.

Let’s start with those shoes. You know the ones. They didn’t vanish when all the other magical members of your entourage did. Just how did you pull that one off? There must be a reason for the variable. I can think of three options for how this might have happened.

Your fairy godmother decided to let you keep the shoes. Not likely. Do you know how much those things cost? Plus, she gave you fair warning. At the stroke of midnight, everything goes.
The slippers broke the law of magic conditions and stuck it out, for really no apparent reason whatsoever. This is harder to explain than how they appeared on your feet in the first place.
The shoes were not magic = It’s a conspiracy

Then, the man. Seriously? For the entirety of the ball at which he danced with only one woman—you—you didn’t know he was the prince. You didn’t figure it out the whole time. Seriously? Seriously?

Don’t the royals ride around and give speeches and send out pamphlets full of patriotic propaganda and their portraits? I know I would. Surely they at least have their faces on the national mint. I’m pretty sure they’re celebrities. You really managed to avoid seeing the face of one of your sovereigns, be it in person or portrait, for your entire life. I’m so sure. How long have you lived in this kingdom? Long enough to be totally clueless?! Okay.

And since we’re on the subject, how long have you lived as a mistreated servant in your stepmother’s home? I assume you have a perfectly good reason for hiding from the man you love who happens to be hunting you down with a loving vengeance and could save you from your life of drudgery and suffering with a snap of his fingers if he could only find you. I feel like I’ve heard this plot point somewhere before…

Back to the shoes. Shoe, this time. The shoe that proved your identity. The shoe made of glass. The shoe that slipped right onto your foot, no problemo.

OH, PLEASE.

I mean, honey. Come on. We’ve all been there. Not the men, hopefully—which is probably how you got away with it, as they wouldn’t sense anything amiss, and the howling protests of your evil stepfamily would have gone unheeded. But any heel-wearing woman knows that no shoe with that close a fit, particularly one that’s made of glass, is going to slide onto your foot without a shoehorn and a decent amount of Vaseline. Tell me, Cinderella. Did you Country Crock your foot? If so, this puts you dangerously close to eligibility for cheater categorization with your toe-hacking stepsisters. And we all know cheaters never prosper.

Now, if I may ask—and please don’t be offended: are your feet, by chance, deformed? This is the only logical explanation I can come up with as to how your specific feet were the only ones in the kingdom to fit into what appear to be a fairly normal pair of shoes. Do you actually expect us to believe that you’re the only woman in the kingdom with small feet? Were no other size sixes in the vicinity? Do you wear smaller than a 6? Do you have trouble walking? Should I just put this down to laziness on the prince’s part?—once he got a decent fit with a pretty face to top it off, he thought 'Screw this, I want lunch,' and he carted you home to the castle?

So many questions. So few answers. Just like the finale of LOST.

Cinders, if I’m honest, this all smells strongly of a conspiracy. You and ol’ Charlie Perrault cooked up a nice little plot here and have collected a pretty pile of royalties from it. But the fairytale is over. You’ve been found out. And now everybody knows it.

Better luck next time.

"and he has a tendency to catarrh..."

2010-06-03T08:45:00.001-05:00

Woke up between snooze and second snooze with this line running through my head. (You know you love a book when...)

I don't like bulldogs but if by chance I ever own one I am naming it Cyril.

In fact, that thought almost makes me want to own a bulldog and name it Cyril. Has to be a bulldog. No other type will do.

See?! how this book daily removes foundationless prejudices from my outlook on the world? Connie Willis, I have so many things in my life to thank you for.

new goal

2010-05-29T17:53:00.000-05:00

Observe something interesting about another person (at least) every day and write about it.
Begin looking for positive or happy attributes I wouldn’t notice unless I looked.
Everyone has something about them that is worth paying attention to.

needless to say,

2010-05-28T13:20:00.001-05:00

I bought three pairs of huge earrings last night.

end of an era

2010-05-24T16:59:00.004-05:00

The final episode was incredible.

I was disappointed by the last few minutes in the church. I didn't exactly follow it. I suspected that the writers had cheated. I was not satisfied.

But now that I've slept on it, and I keep mentally running over it, I have a few thoughts. And I am generally well pleased. With the episode as a whole, with the ending in general, and with the way we closed the story.

First of all, I think it fit. The ending was confusing and a bit rushed, but if you take strip it down to the events, it fits. Who could handle Lost ending with everyone going off to live their normal lives? "Oh, we've had and island adventure and saved the world, cheerio and let's have a reunion at the beach every five years. Ta!" That is not Lost. It ends with death and life. It ends with people coming together and moving forward. That is what the show is about. Jack's death and everything leading up to it was the most perfect, heartbreaking, fitting way to end.

Secondly, and this may be wrong and we'll have to wait for Carlton and Damon to come out of their radio silence for the confirmation or interpretation, but I don't think any of it was purgatory. Sideways world Purgatory is the big theory and the current understanding, so I'm probably wrong, but the purgatory element was what didn't sit well with me and I'm going to fight it even if it turns out to be the intended interpretation.

There are going to be people saying, but what about the doors full of light that Christian is taking them through? There is no way that could happen if it wasn't purgatory!

HELLO. You're watching LOST. There's a monster made of smoke and a light coming from a cave pool in the middle of the island and they have time-traveled. And that is in their real lives. So in the sideways, I feel there is no reason for the sideways world to need to be purgatory.

First and foremost: "It worked." This is what I've gone back to since the second our dying Juliet said it. The nuclear detonation worked. She somehow got a Desmond-type glimpse into this other life and saw that it worked. They reset everything. IT WORKED. The sideways life is just as true at the main story.

Let's listen in again on Christian and Jack's conversation:

"I don't understand. You died."
"Yeah. Yes, I did."
"Then how are you here right now?"
"How are you here?"
"... I died, too." [weeping]
"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay, son."
"I love you, Dad."
"I love you too, son."
"Are you real?"
"I sure hope so. Yeah, I’m real. You're real. Everything that's ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church, they're all real, too."
(IT'S REAL. Physically, mentally, historically real.)
"They're all dead?"
(yes, because they died in the Reality, at one point or another)
"Everyone dies sometime, kiddo. Some of them before you, some of them long after you."
"Well, why are they here now?"
"There is no now here."
"Where are we, Dad?"
"This is the place you all made together so you could find one another (by setting off the bomb—they reset everything and made this life happen). The most important part of your life was the time you spent with these people. That's why all of are here. Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you."
"For what?"
"To remember (they remember the reality-life via contact with the person that gave them purpose on the island), and let go."
"Kate--she said we were leaving."
"Not leaving, no. Moving on."
(=the essence of everyone's, particularly Jack's, personal growth on the island)

This is difficult to interpret, and no wonder—let's remember they who wrote it. I doubt anyone is supposed to actually understand it.

And then they gather together (community!) to all walk through the doors of light. Without commenting on any of the spirituality present or whether they all actually deserve to go to heaven, it feels very much like a Elijah-taken-up-to-heaven moment.

Then…

WHOOOSH to the island as Jack's body is washed out of the cavern by the stream. He's still alive but bleeding badly. He staggers to the bamboo forest and lies down. He hears something and turns to see Vincent run over to him, just as he did the very first day Oceanic 815 crashed on the island. Jack stares up through the swaying bamboo and hears something else. Distant. Up in the sky. And then he sees the Ajira plane climb higher and higher. Jack watches as it flies away.

He smiles. The plane is gone, finally free of the island. Jack Shephard has done what he came to this place to do. He has found his purpose. He has found love. And been loved. And he has finally found a way to love himself. The bamboo sways across the blue sky. And Jack Shephard's eye closes one final time. He is gone.

The end.

--ABC.com/lost

It is about the life lived. It isn't about getting from point A to point B. It's about the space in between. As this show has always been, at its heart: it's about characters. It's about the lives.

ETA: I must admit that this...Observations on Lost Limbo... is the only thing thus far to make me reconsider (unfortunately). I don't want it to be purgatory. They said it was REAL and purgatory makes it NOT real. I want it to be life.

no man is an Island

2010-05-23T23:21:00.000-05:00

but sometimes they get to be a cupcake.

A cupcake with the bottom missing because Cupcake Island EXPLODED.

LOST commentary: The End

2010-05-23T20:01:00.007-05:00

It is hard to find the words to say what this one television show has done in my life.

It has taught me to look at other people as individual lives, not actions or appearances.
It has reminded me that common grace is everywhere.
It has allowed me to glory in my favorite sort of storytelling: human motives and emotions actions combined with uncontrollable outside forces, their unpredictability and consequences, and the way everything weaves together.
It has invested my heart in these lives, my mind in the complexities and theories, and my faith in my approach to the philosophy the plot presents.

I am not ready to say goodbye.

I have two and a half hours before it’s over and I’m going to soak it in.

Here we go.

redemption
forgiveness
hope
love
friendship
loyalty
faith

BRB SOBBING

Sorry, everyone waiting for a commentary. I decided to just revel in it.
All in all, I'm going to need to watch this season again. And then I'm going to need to watch the entire show again.

Every other commentary (seasons 5 & 6) is linked to the LOST tag below.

a day of all the best things

2010-05-22T22:33:00.003-05:00

This has been a very pleasant day. So pleasant that I almost feel guilty. I’ve done nothing all day but indulge myself in very good ways. Or, I could say been indulged. I was not the cause of most of the pleasantness. It came from other places and sources.

Lindsay was passing through town and I got to see her—actually see her face and talk to her, in person—and then we went to breakfast at First Watch (and Jan paid). I filled my tank with gas for not too much money. I came home and hung up the hammock and read Anne of Green Gables for hours. In the hammock, where the sun shone down through the shady tree and my shoulders soaked in Vitamin D. On the couch, plushy and soft with the door open to the breeze outside. On my bed, eating grapes, with sun lighting up squares on the white spread. There is nothing more delicious than lay in a hammock, free of all cares, and drift into a little nap. Then, when I finished the book, I went for a run through the neighborhood. I came back and took a wonderful long shower. Now it’s 10:26 and I’m sitting here writing out plot points and it’s actually working. I’m going to turn off the mellow night music itunes is crooning at me so I can watch a movie, and I’ll go to bed at midnight and get a good full night’s sleep.

A very good Saturday!

cannibalism = love...

2010-05-21T11:15:00.001-05:00

"We sat on the bench and he told me about fishing with his dad. He's just so CUTE! I just wanna STRANGLE HIM!" --Bria

My friends continue to further my theory that the tale of Hansel & Gretl was founded on sincere human enthusiasm taken to an irrational extreme.

Think of the last time you told an adorable assortment of 2-year-old pudge and curls, "I could just EAT YOU UP!" See what I mean?

I wonder what I would pay attention to if I weren't a writer.

2010-05-20T14:06:00.001-05:00

Half of my daily mental energy is claimed by the stories churning around in my head. Almost every single thing I encounter is processed though a creative filter. It is exhausting. It is also incredibly interesting. Which is why I give it free reign.

This is interesting. Can I use this? Yes, it fits perfectly! No, I don't find it that interesting after all. No, it wouldn't work with what I want to do. This has potential worth chasing down. Well, it wouldn't work with what I currently have but I like this better--I'll tweak the existing element. I wonder what else I could do with this. I seriously can't believe I didn't think of this earlier. This doesn't relate to anything I'm working on right now but it is so intriguing that I will store it and pull it out in a few months, by which time something might relate. An entire story could be built off of this. What would that do if I pushed it against this? I am going to use this even if it wrecks my entire plot and makes me hate my creative self, because it is amazing. Oh--what are they doing (and what can I copy)? I will come back and visit this later. What a relief, this is exactly what I've been waiting for. I thought this was what I wanted but it isn't. This will fit that like pieces of a puzzle: ok, now to find the third piece.

Gleaning. The collection process: a name, a mannerism, a reaction, a word, an image, a purpose, a theory, a desire, a need, a place, a facial feature, an accent, a color.

Mixing. Take a handful of fragments and solid piece of idea and throw them all in together like the inside of a kaleidoscope. If the picture doesn't work, modify it... or put some of the parts into a different kaleidoscope.

Simmering. Letting all the chunks smoothe over as different ingredients are poured in and chemical reactions occur.

Then, once an idea is incubating, I start to write it out. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it works and later it doesn't.

It is not easy. It's like looking at a photo of a beautiful [pie/house/painting] and knowing what the finished product can/will be, but having no idea what ingredients, materials, or techniques are needed. I don't write straightforward stories. When you write plots like mine, it is 100% experiment. Everything is constantly changing. Something seems certain, and then I find something better or go through a new life phase and I LEARN SOMETHING NEW, and then everything has to be remodeled, because the foundation was faulty. I layer, I build, I tear down, I rebuild. I succeed, I yell, I dance around, I threaten the computer/plot/character/author, I walk away, I return. I always return.

It's exhausting. And thrilling. I love it.

truth:

2010-05-20T12:22:00.002-05:00

Damien Rice's voice in "Eskimo" would sound incredible even if the music video was about someone making a tuna sandwich.

Guess what I had for dinner last night?